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Oil Companies Ask Supreme Court to Send All Climate Cases to Federal Court

Filed Under: Baltimore Lawsuit, Liability Litigation

By Karen Savage

Fossil fuel companies want the Supreme Court to decide the crucial question of jurisdiction over climate lawsuits filed by nearly two dozen municipalities across the country: whether they belong in federal court, where the industry wants them, or in state courts where they were filed.

The Supreme Court has already agreed to review a procedural question in Baltimore’s climate liability suit when it granted a petition from ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and nearly two dozen other companies that would impact federal vs. state jurisdiction.  

Now the companies want the high court to expand its review.

“Given the number of climate-change cases pending across the nation, the court should confirm that this case and others like it were properly removed to federal court on the ground that federal common law necessarily governs claims alleging injury based on the contribution of interstate and international emissions to global climate change,” the companies wrote in a brief filed Monday.

Baltimore first filed suit in Maryland state court in 2018, alleging that the fossil fuel companies knew for decades that their products drive climate change but deliberately failed to inform the public about those risks. The city is charging the companies with eight violations, including public nuisance, private nuisance, failure to warn and violations of Maryland’s consumer protection laws. 

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Exxon Tries Same Arguments to Get Minn. Climate Suit to Federal Court

Filed Under: Latest News, Minnesota Lawsuit

By Karen Savage

ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and Koch Industries say Minnesota’s climate fraud lawsuit filed against them belongs in federal court.

In a brief filed Monday, the defendants rolled out many of the same arguments for federal jurisdiction that have so far failed to convince courts in dozens of similar cases around the country.

The API and the companies argue that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is trying to “use Minnesota law as a vehicle to force defendants to discontinue or reduce their extraction, production, promotion, and sale of fossil fuels around the world.”

Ellison, emphasizing that his case centers on consumer fraud, not emissions, said the defendants are misrepresenting the case.

“This case does not seek to limit the extraction of fossil fuels or otherwise regulate greenhouse-gas emissions,” Ellison wrote in a brief filed in September arguing that the case should be heard in state court, where it was filed in June.

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Exxon Uses Anti-SLAPP Law to Claim Mass. Climate Suit Violates Its Rights

Filed Under: Liability Litigation, Mass. v. Exxon

By Karen Savage

ExxonMobil says a climate fraud lawsuit filed against it by the Massachusetts attorney general is illegal and designed to silence its views on climate change.

Exxon is preparing a motion to dismiss the suit as a SLAPP suit—strategic lawsuits against public participation—after telling the AG’s office in August that the case must be dismissed under Massachusetts’ anti-SLAPP statute. The motion to dismiss, the AG’s opposition brief, and Exxon’s reply, are currently being assembled and filed as a package with the court in December.

SLAPP lawsuits are designed to harass and intimidate those exercising their First Amendment rights. They are most often filed by corporations or other powerful entities in an attempt to silence activists, consumers, community advocates and journalists. Many states have passed laws prohibiting such suits, because those being sued often lack the resources to defend themselves against wealthy corporations.

Under Massachusetts’ law, defendants who file motions to dismiss under the state’s anti-SLAPP law are entitled to have their motion heard as quickly as possible. More importantly in this instance, the motion automatically halts the discovery process until the court has ruled on the motion.

“For more than four years, Exxon has made repeated attempts to stonewall my office’s efforts to seek the truth about Exxon’s climate deception and enforce our state law protecting consumers and investors— and this meritless motion is no different,” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement.

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